Inauguration Day

by C. Michael Eliasz-Solomon

nauguration Day has arrived and there can be no larger historic moment than this one today (01/20/2009), which is the Inauguration of America’s 44th President, Barack H. Obama. Stanczyk however is of mixed moods. Alas, his ticket to the swearing-in and the seating at the parade were pulled last minute in a bureaucratic snafu that finds Stanczyk in Audubon, PA (home of the French American Naturalist for whom the Audubon Society is named — John James Audubon).

Stanczyk had planned to bring his grandmother’s Naturalization Papers, ala Edward Zwick, the director of “Defiance” did when he filmed Defiance in Poland/Lithuania/ByeloRussia. Stanczyk’s grandparents came from the Russian-Poland partition, in what the Russians called the Kielce gubernya (and the Poles Kielce wojewodztwo) at the time of the 1880’s it was in the Stopnica powiat.

So this fool was outdone by an even better fool and my attempt to mix my travels and my history with my family not to mention my potential cocktail fodder at palace retinue happenings was bolloxed. At this historic moment let me pause my musings for some coffee whilst I watch the coronation, excuse me, the inauguration.

Don’t forget every administration requires a fool and in these times I am available. Of course, I realize that Washington D.C. is rife with fools, but you can still pick an erudite fool who can stand out from the many and perhaps correct the omission of a Slavic from your Cabinet. God Bless Obama!